


Just Barely Missing

by love_in_the_stars



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Canon?, Cap isn't clued in, Gen, Misunderstandings, Tony takes offense, What Canon?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-16
Updated: 2012-06-16
Packaged: 2017-11-07 20:49:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/435302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/love_in_the_stars/pseuds/love_in_the_stars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At a charity event under attack, Steve keeps preventing Tony from reaching the armor and keeps trying to get him to safety.</p>
<p>Tony takes offense, does some butt-kicking, has a civil conversation and just maybe makes a friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Barely Missing

**Author's Note:**

> Based somewhat on a prompt from somewhere, a kinkmeme I think, but it was forever ago that I saw it and am not going to troll through them all over again to find it.

Villains always have the worst timing.  
  
Tony Stark wondered for a moment if bad guys took classes for things like that. 'Perfect Villain Timing for Beginners' or 'Villainous Monologue 101'. It was both an amusing thought and a terrifying one.  
  
Tony shook himself, glass tinkling to the floor as he carefully brushed the broken fragments off his clothes. People were screaming but that was okay, it was good. The ruckus meant people were still alive to be screaming and provided cover for Tony to get to his armor. There was too much going on for him to tell what had caused every window in the place to shatter like that but at the moment it didn’t matter.  
  
The genius jumped over a downed chair, heading straight for the table he'd stashed his briefcase under. If he could just get to the suit. Rogers was here somewhere, which was good because charity galas like this had a lot of important attendees and the Super Soldier would be great help in keeping people safe and calm.  
  
There! He spied the case, a sleek red and gold shape behind the soft white table cloth that hung far too low over the sides. Gotcha, he thought triumphantly, whole body itching to be covered in the power and safety of the armor. Unfortunately, a tight grip on his collar dragged Tony in the opposite direction, despite his stuttered indignation. He twisted enough to catch the strong profile of Steve's face, his pale hair brighter in the dim destruction.  
  
“Rogers! Let go of me!”  
  
“We need to get these people out, Stark.” Was all the man said in response. “I don't know what it was that attacked but we can't have civilians in the way.”  
  
“Yeah, I know that. Duh.”  
  
Steve rolled his eyes and shoved Tony at the huge double doors of the ballroom. “So start calling people out. Try to keep them calm too, alright?”  
  
And with that, Steve strolled away, back straight and head swiveling as he tried to see everywhere at once. Tony could only stare after him, utterly bewildered. “Okay, what just happened?”  
  
Did Steve just somehow ban him from a fight?!  
  
Okay, so, granted their last(and first) encounter didn't exactly go over well but that did not give Captain America  any right to order Iron Man to stand down.  
  
An explosion outside the broken windows shook the occupants of the room and knocked over a couple more chairs and tables. Regardless of whatever stunt Rogers just tried to pull, the man had a point. The building needed to be evacuated, pronto.  
  
“Alright, people!” Tony yelled, pitching his sardonic voice to be heard across the room. “Let's evacuate the shaky, drafty and obviously compromised building, yeah? Doors are open people, let's use them and scoot. Grab your purses and puppies and evacuate, please.”  
  
Given Tony's absolutely calm voice and vague insults, the citizens calmed and obeyed, grumbling the whole time about a wasted night and lawsuits. Tony ignored all this, leaving the doors once people had started filing out.  
  
Screw whatever Steve thought about him, Tony was still Iron Man and he took orders from no one. He hadn't agreed to join the Avengers even before the Captain was recovered (and the meeting arranged by Fury to nudge him into giving in hadn't lasted long enough since Tony had stormed out after a few well placed barbs from Steve regarding his father) so he didn't answer to anyone. Especially not that patriotic upstart who thought  Howard , of all people, was who Tony should have learned more from.  
  
Well fuck Steve Rogers, Tony had no desire to be anymore like his asshole of a father then he already was.  
  
Hand at his throat, Tony deftly pulled off his tie and let it fall to the floor, his eyes locking on the SI table. He could still see a shadow of the case, which was always a relief, and he was just a few more feet from it. The building rocked with another explosion but Tony didn't pause, just rode out the tremor. So close!  
  
Tony stumbled, tripping over his own momentum when a hand of steel latched onto his arm in a vice's grip.  
  
“Stark!” Steve's voice was irritated and it make Tony's hackles rise. “I thought I told you to escort the people out.”  
  
It wasn't a question so Tony didn't answer it but threw back, “In case you forgot after all these years, humans  are actually capable of walking on their own feet. Now if you don't mind letting me go?” He said, looking pointedly at the hand over his elbow.  
  
Steve was frowning though and his eyes narrowed. “Why are you not evacuating with them? I told you this is no place for civilians.”  
  
Oh.  
  
Oh, no he did not. This prick did  not just imply Tony wasn't a fighter because he turned down the Avengers, did he? No. No, no, no, no. Tony was  not going to let that slide. The genius drew himself up straighter, putting every bit of hate and disgust as he could into his expression, generally a look he reserved solely for interacting with Justin Hammer.  
  
He opened his mouth, a scathing rant on his tongue, when one wall exploded, the force knocking them apart and straight to the floor.  
  
Tony landed hard on his back, ears ringing and breath short. He recovered quickly though, rolling onto his front and facing the east wall, the former east wall anyway. It was gone now and in its place was a huge green and silver robot. “Ow, fuck. A Doombot, great. Wonder what he wants now.”  
  
Tony shoved himself into a crouch, eying the robot while catching sight of Steve a few yards away getting to his feet and shield on his arm. Yeah and people thought he was paranoid for taking the armor everywhere with him.  
  
The armor, right. Without it beating the Doombot was going to be hard for Steve and as pissed at him as Tony was right now, he was more pissed at the fucking robot.  
  
He made the robots, Doom really needed to find a new schtick, preferably non-villainous.  
  
Luckily, the blast had actually thrown Tony closer to the SI table, which was still upright, oddly enough, and Tony pivoted now to throw himself under the table. At the same moment he caught the robot moving toward him but Steve's shield knocking it upside its domed head gave the machine pause.  
  
With a surge of triumph, Tony finally got his hands on the sleek case. Thumbs pressed to the bio-scanner, Tony gave the word and the case cracked open, morphing up around his body and folding on him perfectly.  
  
The HUD lit up with a beep as the suit whined, connecting directly to his reactor, status and data screens scrolling over Tony's view. Fully online and ready to kick ass, Tony blasted into the air on a full rocket collision course with Doom's Bot. He made sure Steve was clear then opened fire, driving the robot back towards the ruined wall with the force of his entire ire and most powerful repulsors. The robot staggered backward, pinwheeling and obviously about to collapse back outside. At the last second, Tony cut the weapons and slammed himself into the 'bot, launching them both out the window and into empty air.  
  
Misdirection had cleared out the streets around the building, which was good because the Doombot's jets had been destroyed and it hurtled down to crash spectacularly into the pavement. It didn't get back up.  
  
Hovering in the air outside the giant hole, Tony smirked to himself behind the helmet.  
  
“New record time, sir.” Jarvis' voice informed him.  
  
“Sweet. You know, I'm starting to think Doom has just been getting bored.”  
  
“Indeed, sir.”  
  
“Iron Man!”  
  
Tony turned to find Captain America standing at the edge of the ruined wall and Tony drew in closer to the man, flipping up his faceplate. Steve's eyes widened but Tony was still so angry and he fixed the man with a glare that said as much.  
  
“Let me make one thing perfectly clear to you,  Captain . If you ever again imply that I'm not a capable fighter simply because I decided against joining your little Good Boy Club then a Doombot is not the tech of the century you're going to find yourself facing off against.”  
  
With that, Tony snapped the faceplate down and rocketed off, leaving Steve standing alone among the damage.  
  
\---  
  
Honestly, Tony expected that to be that. He would keep going his way and doing what he did best, inventing amazing things and fighting bad guys whenever he got to a fight before the Avengers while the 'team' did their group Boy Scouts act.  
  
The last thing Tony expected was to have Steve Rogers knocking on his front door only three days later.  
  
“Say that again, Jarvis?”  
  
“There is a Steve Rogers at the front door to see you, sir.”  
  
“Yeah, I thought that was what you said. What the hell does he want?”  
  
“He did not say. Would you like me to ask?”  
  
Tony set down his blow torch and thought for a moment, debating as to whether he should just have JARVIS turn him away or not. In the end his damnable curiosity got the best of him and Tony shook his head. “Nah, let him in. I guess I'm curious as to what he wants to be righteous about now.”  
  
Well, that and Tony was feeling pretty content at the moment, mellow enough to try talking to him again.  
  
“Indeed, sir.” Jarvis' voice said dryly.  
  
Tony grinned and pulled a wheeled stool over to sit on while gathering together the pieces of his repulsor gloves. The wiring was getting a bit worn down and the replacement process was rather delicate. He could start on that while Steve worked his way through the mansion to the workshop.  
  
In shorter time then Tony expected, Jarvis must have felt bad for the guy and helped him out, Steve in all his tall, blond glory was standing just outside the workshop's glass doors. Tony waved a hand and Jarvis buzzed the doors open, allowing Steve to step inside. The super soldier’s eyes instantly started roaming the lab and Tony straightened, already bracing himself for confrontation. But if Steve had any thoughts about the place he didn't share them.  
  
Before the man could start with that annoying 'Mr. Stark' opening, Tony set a screwdriver down and gave Steve his full attention. “What's up Superboy. Something I can help you with?” And look at that, completely polite. Well, as polite as Tony Stark was capable of being anyway.  
  
Something vague in Steve seemed to loosen slightly at the obvious lack of malice in Tony's voice. Not that it couldn't change in a moment what with Steve's tendency to say the exact wrong thing to him.  
  
"No, not right now. I wanted to apologize."  
  
That got a raised brow from Tony. An apology? To him? That was a first. "Really? For what?"  
  
"There seems to have been a misunderstanding and I feel bad for it." Steve said earnestly, clasping his hands in front of him with a soldier's straight back.  
  
"I don't get it, what misunderstanding?"  
  
"I didn't know you were Iron Man."  
  
Tony blinked and stared at him, searching for some hint that this was all one big joke at his expense but found nothing except Steve's honest blue eyes. "How?" He finally sputtered, "Everyone knows!"  
  
"Well, it's not like we've ever fought together! And no one ever exactly told me. You turned down the Inititive before I...got back, they must have figured I had no reason knowing or assumed I already knew." Steve said defensively and Tony was reminded once again that Steve was extremely out of date. It was unlikely Shield was bothering to teach him the casual stuff like computer use or satellite television so it was possible Steve hadn't actually known who he was beyond Tony Stark. And hell, if there was one thing about himself that he could admit it was that on the surface, Tony Stark wasn’t exactly a pleasant man.  
  
"Okay."  
  
Steve stilled and looked at Tony carefully. "Okay?"  
  
"Yeah, okay. Apology accepted and here, have one of your own. Sorry I didn't realize you didn't know and that I yelled at you."  
  
"Oh, thank you." He sounded confused, like he's expected more of a fight and Tony grinned at him.  
  
"Relax, Cap. I won't hold a grudge over this since it was a misunderstanding. Trust me, if I did that every time someone took exception to me I'd never have lasted this long."  
  
Steve nodded but had that forehead wrinkle that either meant he was hungry or just had a troubling thought. Tony bet the former, he'd seen the SSS files on Rogers and knew all about that advanced metabolism. "You hungry? You look hungry, have you tried the pizza around here since you got back?"  
  
"I am actually but I should be getting back. I left without telling anyone I was coming here." Steve said with a shrug.  
  
Tony laughed in surprise and pointed at Steve. "You? Mister 'Follow Orders' Rogers, snuck out from Shield protection? That is wonderful, truly, I mean that. I'm proud, actually. Ooh, I bet they end up blaming me for influencing you or something. Corrupting Captain America. Fury will pop out of his eyepatch!" His glee seemed contagious because Steve was smirking slightly and rolled his eyes.  
  
"I don't understand where all of you get the idea I'm some perfect, delicate flower. I was a punk who never knew when to shut his mouth before the Serum, that didn't just go away." Steve huffed as if put out by this.  
  
Tony hid the last of his giggles with a hand and flapped the other at Steve. "It's the comics and movies. Not to mention the newsreels. You really could have considered acting after all that USO work. Precious."  
  
Steve flushed and glared sullenly. "That was not a high point of my career." He said primly.  
  
"It's alright, I never said it was a bad thing. Well, the uniform was rather monstrous but you know, whatever. One for all and all for one and all that. But hey, you've already come this far so you might as well join me for 21st century New York pizza." He could do this, he could make an effort and make something favorable of this situation. If Steve could reach out then the least Tony could do was respond in kind.  
  
Steve tipped his head thoughtfully then shrugged. “Okay, sure. I’d like that.”  
  
“Great!” Tony beamed at him, shoved out on his stool and held out his arms wide. “Just give me like ten minutes to clean up and we can head out.” He hopped up and made a gesture to have the displays shut down then looked at Steve. “Just, wait here and try not to touch too much. If anything happened to you because of me I think Fury would finally just call it game over and have the Widow kill me.”  
  
Steve just shook his head and watched Tony leave the lab, still muttering wry things about the Director and Natasha to himself as he went. Looking around uncertainly, he eyed the stool Tony had been sitting on and carefully edged himself onto it. While he was pretty sure Tony had been mostly joking it was still hard for him to be sure about any of the things Stark said. Thankfully, it looked like things were finally starting ease between them with this last misconception taken care of.  
  
Now he understood why Tony seemed so offended by Steve’s mere existence the first time they spoke. His own shallow views of the billionaire hadn’t exactly been anything other then insulting, especially knowing what he did now. So he understood the way Tony had taken his barbs with such fury and escaped the way he had. He knew better now. They both did and maybe, just maybe, this was the chance to get things straightened out between them. Perhaps that was just his wishful thinking but Steve had always been rather optimistic and determined.   
  
It could work, they could be friends, he was sure of it. Now all he had to do was prove it, to himself and to Tony. Steve was prepared for whatever that required and if the start of it was pizza out then he didn't think he would mind this challenge at all.  
  
In fact, he was looking forward to it.  
  



End file.
